The of foreign trade documents is an indispensable and important link in foreign trade transactions. Only by mastering the process of foreign trade documents can we ensure the safety and smooth progress of foreign trade transactions. This article will introduce the complete process of foreign trade documents and 5 risk prevention suggestions, hoping to do foreign trade industry friends can help.

Foreign trade documents process

1. Customer Inquiry: Generally, before the customer Purchase Order (generally referred to as PO), there will be relevant Order Inquiry to the business department to do some detailed understanding.

2. Quotation: The business department shall reply to the customer's inquiry in time, determine the name, model, manufacturer, quantity, delivery date, payment method, packaging specification and cabinet type, etc. of the goods, and make a formal quotation to be Quotation to the customer. Quotations need to use your company's head-up and indicate customer information, and don't forget to indicate the validity of the quotation. Because of the exchange rate and raw material price fluctuations, the quotation may be adjusted according to the situation, so indicate the validity of the quotation for future price adjustment to pave the way.

3. Receive orders: After negotiation, the customer will send a purchase order Purchase Order to the salesman after confirming the quotation, and ask the salesman to make a pro forma invoice Proforma Invoice (generally referred to as PI). The salesman completes the PI and sends it to the customer for confirmation.

4. Prepare production orders: After receiving the customer's order confirmation, begin to prepare for the factory to place an order.

5. Business approval: According to the general company process, the business department receives the order, makes the order details, together with the customer order copy to the management personnel for approval and then to the department merchandiser to follow up, there is no merchandiser company, the salesman to follow up.

6. Issue production notice

The business department in determining the delivery date, meet the following circumstances can issue a production notice, notify the factory on time production:

6.1: If it is L/C payment customers, usually in the delivery period before 1 month to confirm that L/C has been received, and then the clerk and the document officer to review the letter of credit, check whether there are errors, delivery time can be guaranteed and other possible problems, if there is a problem should immediately ask the guest to change the certificate. About the letter of credit settlement risk tips, before the small editor has been sorted out, click to understand-letter of credit settlement method small tips.

6.2: If it is T/T payment customers, to confirm that the deposit has been paid.

6.3: If it is a lending customer, or through the bank D/A and other ways to collect foreign exchange, etc., need the manager to confirm.

7. Inspection

7.1: in the delivery before the week, to inform the inspector inspection.

7.2: If the guest wants to own or designate the inspection personnel to inspect the goods, to the delivery date of a week ago, about the customer to check the goods and the inspection date to inform the planning department.

7.3: If the guest specifies a third-party inspection company or a fair line to inspect the goods, contact the inspection company two weeks before the delivery date to make an appointment for the inspection time and ensure that the time is arranged before the delivery date. After confirmation, the inspection time will be notified to the factory.

8. Preparation of basic documents. According to the packing materials provided by the factory, the export contract, export commercial invoice, packing list and other documents (generally made by the business merchandiser, to the voucher officer).

9. Commodity inspection: If it is a national legal commodity inspection product, when placing an order to the factory, it is necessary to explain the commodity inspection requirements and provide export contracts, invoices and other information required for commodity inspection. Moreover, the factory should be told about the export port of the products in the future so as to facilitate the factory to handle the commodity inspection. Should be shipped one week before the commodity inspection replacement voucher/strip.

10. Charter booking

10.1. If the quotation to the customer is based on FOB terms, the customer will usually appoint a freight forwarder. Contact the freight forwarder as soon as possible to understand the export port to be arranged, the shipping date, etc., to confirm whether the factory delivery can be earlier than the opening date at least one week ago, and whether the shipping date can meet the customer's required delivery date. Should be two weeks before the delivery date to the freight company issued a written order notice (SHIPPING ORDER, referred to as SO), usually one week before the ship can get the warehouse paper.

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10.2. If the freight is paid by the seller, the shipping company or shipping company should be consulted as soon as possible about the date of shipment, freight rate, port of shipment, etc. After comparison, select the shipping company with favorable price and good reputation, and notify the guests. If the guest does not agree to choose another shipping company approved by the guest. Two weeks before the ship is set in writing, the procedure is the same as above.

10.3. If the goods are not enough for a small cabinet to take bulk cargo, place a bulk cargo position with the freight forwarding company. When you get the warehouse paper, you also need to know the cut-off time, warehouse customs declaration requirements, etc.

11. Arrange towing cabinets

11.1. After the goods are ready and inspected, entrust the trailer company to lift the cabinet and load the cabinet. Trailer companies should choose safe and reliable, reasonably priced companies to sign long-term cooperation agreements to ensure safety and punctuality. The following information shall be provided to the trailer company: warehouse confirmation/container paper, shipping company, warehouse number, power of attorney for container towing, indicating the time of container loading, container type and quantity, container loading address, customs declaration office, and shipping port, etc. If an inspection company looks at the container, it must specifically declare that it cannot arrive late. He also requested to return a copy of the information on the counter, listing the counter number, license plate number, driver and contact number, etc. Trailer companies that do not have long-term cooperation can also allow freight forwarders to arrange freight and pay local fees to freight forwarders when they pay local fees.

11.2. Send a loading information to the factory, listing the loading time, cabinet type, warehouse number, order number, license plate number and driver's contact number.

11.3. The factory is required to provide a loading notice to the business department as soon as possible after the container leaves the factory, setting out the time when the container leaves the factory, the actual quantity loaded, etc., and recording the packing number and seal number as the information of the bill of lading. The factory is required to remember the upper seal after loading the cabinet.

12. Commissioned customs declaration

The will hand over the information required for customs declaration to the cooperative customs broker at the same time of towing the cabinet, and entrust the export customs declaration and do the commodity inspection and customs clearance exchange. It is usually necessary to allow two days for customs declaration (before the ship is closed). When entrusting customs declaration, a container loading information should be provided, including the loaded goods and quantity, port, shipping company, warehouse number, cabinet number, ship opening and closing time, trailer company, cabinet type and quantity, the company's contact person and telephone number, etc.

13. Obtaining Transport Documents

13.1. The contents of the bill of lading supplement shall be sent to the shipping company or freight forwarder no later than two days after the departure of the ship. Replenishment should be done according to the requirements of L/C or guests, and give the correct quantity of goods, as well as some special requirements, including requiring the shipping company to accompany the bill of lading out of the ship certificate.

13.2. Urge shipping companies to issue bill of lading samples and local expense bills as soon as possible. After carefully checking the sample of the bill of lading, confirm the contents of the bill of lading in writing to the shipping company. If the bill of lading needs to be confirmed by the guest, the bill of lading sample should be faxed to the guest first, and then the shipping company should be asked to issue the original.

13.3. Timely payment of transportation and miscellaneous fees and other local expenses, payment after the notification of the shipping company in a timely manner to obtain the original bill of lading and other transport documents.

14. Prepare other documents

14.1. Commercial Invoices: Among the documents required by L/C, commercial invoices are the most stringent. The date of the invoice should be determined after the issuing date and before the delivery date. The description of the goods in the invoice should be exactly the same as that on the L/C, and the amount in both lowercase and uppercase must be correct. The terms of the invoice on the L/C should be shown, and the shipping mark should be shown. If the invoice needs to handle the other embassy certification, generally 20 days in advance.

14.2.FORM A Certificate of Origin: FORM A Certificate of Origin shall be applied to the Inspection and Quarantine Bureau before shipment. It should be noted that the shipping date should be before the delivery date and sailing date of L/C and after the invoice date. Failure to handle before shipment, to handle the post-certificate, need to provide customs declaration, bill of lading and other documents. For goods transshipped through Hong Kong, the FORM A certificate is usually signed by the China Commodity Inspection Company in Hong Kong to prove that the goods have not been reprocessed in Hong Kong. At present, there are many FORM A card agency services on the market, which can be found as needed.

Note: FORM A is the GSP certificate of origin, which is the official certificate with legal effect for China's export products to enjoy further reduction or exemption of import tariffs on the basis of the most-favored-nation tax rate. At present, China's GSP treatment of the country a total of 38.

14.3. General Certificate of Origin (CO, that is, certificate of origin): General Certificate of Origin can be handled at the China Council for the Promotion of Trade, with lower requirements. It can be reissued not too long after delivery. If the certificate of origin is to be signed by the embassy, it must be processed 20 days in advance, just like the invoice. At present, there are many agency certificate of origin services on the market, the cost is generally between 100-200 yuan, you can find someone to do it as needed.

14.4. Shipment Notice: It is generally required to notify the guest of the details of the shipment within a few days after departure, including the name of the ship, flight number, sailing date, expected arrival date, cargo and quantity, amount, number of packages, shipping marks, port of destination agent, etc. Sometimes L/C request to provide proof of sending, such as reports, letters, etc., pay attention to the time required by the guests.

14.5. Packing list: The packing list should clearly indicate the packing of the goods. To display the number of in each box, the gross weight of each box, the net weight, and the size of the outer box. The total volume calculated according to the size of the outer box shall be consistent with the total volume indicated. The shipping mark and box number should be displayed so that guests can find them easily. The weight and volume of the packing list should be consistent with the bill of lading.

15. Delivery

15.1. The use of L/C collection, should be in the prescribed delivery time to prepare all documents and strict examination of the documents, to ensure that there is no error before the bank to negotiate.

15.2. If T/T is used to collect foreign exchange, a copy of the bill of lading shall be mailed to the guest immediately after obtaining the bill of lading, and the original bill of lading and other documents (PI,PL,FORMA or CO) shall be sent to the guest after confirming receipt of the balance. Do not send the original to the customer without receiving the final payment, once the customer gets the original bill of lading, the customer can pick up the goods from the port of destination, increasing the risk of the supplier's collection. Payment terms are 100%T/T in advance customers, you can communicate with the freight forwarder before shipment to choose the bill of lading electric discharge service.

16. Business registration: Each single export business in the completion of the timely registration, to facilitate future query statistics.

17. Document archiving: All documents, L/C and negotiated documents must be kept in a complete set for future reference.

Source: Ningbo Shipping